Monday, April 1, 2013

Raping the Land for Oil Exports


The recent oil spill in Arkansas illustrates the perils of transporting oil.

Exxon Mobil pipeline leaks ‘a few thousand’ barrels of crude oil in Arkansas by S. Mufson March 31, 2013 The Washington Post, http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/exxon-mobil-pipeline-leaks-a-few-thousand-barrels-of-crude-oil-in-arkansas/2013/03/31/6868d6f6-9a2e-11e2-a941-a19bce7af755_story.html?wpisrc=nl_headlines

[Excerpted] Exxon Mobil said that one of its pipelines leaked “a few thousand” barrels of Canadian heavy crude oil near Mayflower, Ark., prompting the evacuation of 22 homes and reinforcing concerns many critics have raised about the Keystone XL pipeline that is awaiting State Department approval....  

Many critics of the Keystone XL pipeline say that corrosion risks are greater in pipelines carrying low-quality bitumen-laden crude from the oil sands. They have urged President Obama to reject the Keystone XL permit application. 

“This latest pipeline incident is a troubling reminder that oil companies still have not proven that they can safely transport Canadian tar sands oil across the United States without creating risks to our citizens and our environment,” said Rep. Edward J. Markey (Mass.), the ranking Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee..... [end]

Majia here: This spill is not an isolated instance. In 2011, an Exxon oil pipeline spill in Montana dumped thousands of gallons of oil into the Yellowstone River. Montana residents were very unhappy with the clean-up efforts (see here).

I think its important to reiterate, given the Montana and Arkansas oil spills, that the proposed Keystone XL pipeline would transport oil for EXPORT, as explained in this Wall Street Journal article:

Johnson, K (2013, March 15) Oil Exports Spur More Questions About Pipeline. The WSJ, p. A4.

[excerpted] Much of the crude oil that would flow down the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline would likely be exported as refined products by U.S. companies.... [end]

Majia here: So, we would have situation where our land would be raped in order for big energy corporations to get richer on exports.

That is the situation that currently occurs in countries such as Nigeria.

Americans need to wise up.


 

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